Real Life
by ChronicallyinFlaming
Summary: Ever wonder about the fourth wall ever breaking, and the characters actually taking notice of how Shepard acts when a player controls them?


**The Prompt: Shepard in real life + crew reactions**

_Okay so what I'm thinking.. I'm not entirely sure how to even put it into words. This may be long!_

_I want to see the crews reaction to Shepard when she acts how she does when we're playing her. Examples would probably be very helpful here._

_Sometimes when I'll play I'll be in a conversation scene and i get distracted and don't answer for a while. So in the game, Shepard is just standing there for 10 minutes and everyone is waiting for her. i wanna see their reactions to that._

_Or like, in ME1, I always get lost on the citadel. I wind up running in circles to find the exit of a room or constantly stop to look at the map. What is everyone else seeing? Do the crew talk about Shep behind her back and say things like "i dunno man, she got stuck in a bathroom for 10 minutes and that's why we're late"_

_Or another things is how i'll sometimes run through all the dialogue options even though i've been trough them in the conversation already. What does Garrus think when Shepard comes to talk to him and he tells her hes busy and she keeps talking?_

_Hopefully these kinda give you an idea of what i'm talking about for this prompt. I'd love to read other things too, that i haven't thought about or mentioned here. Multi-fills welcome!  
_

**The Fill:**

* * *

It was Diana Allers that finally asked that one question that they'd all been carrying around, inspecting every now and again, but otherwise trying to ignore it. Like a rock stuck in your boot in the middle of a firefight. It was easier to pretend it wasn't there until there was someone to point out you were limping and had been for quite some time now.

The reporter even brought her camera along, possibly an ingrained habit of her own. So Shepard could, if she was so inclined, watch it and hear them quietly questioning her sanity. The snippets of answers from her friends, the ultimately irrelevant questions.

* * *

/0800

Garrus rubbed beneath his eyes, gingerly. A gesture turians never did. "So you noticed that, huh? The constant repetitive questions. The silences. Sometimes, I think the silences are the worse.

"Hm?

"Oh, yeah, she'll do that. Ask you that same question immediately after having heard the answer. You can tell her your busy, eventually she'll go away.

"The staring. She's thinking. No, no, she blinks.

"Maybe she's hard of hearing? There's a lot of gunfire around her, and she never wears earplugs."

* * *

/0314

"I guess you could say Shepard is eccentric."

Liara rubbed an arm, unsure of how to begin explaining things. Or some reluctance at implying flaws in the Commander. "I wasn't sure if all humans did that, at first. I hadn't spent much time around her species.

"Then I learned better.

"I don't really know. I'm not that kind of doctor."

* * *

/0634

"PTSD." Williams didn't pause, as she broke down her rifle for cleaning. "…that's what we're pretty sure it is."

* * *

/1542

Tali fidgeted more than usual. "Constantly. She always leads the way, and has a terrible sense of direction. I swear she spends hours looking at omni-tool for the map. Sometimes she'll run into a wall, then walk away like nothing happened.

"But she's never been late. Always she manages to save the day. No matter how long it takes us to finally do anything on the Citadel.

"She won't see this interview, right?"

* * *

/1467

Vega didn't make eye contact with the camera. "Sometimes, she's like a marionette doll. And I don't want to know what's controlling her."

* * *

/0317

"Insanity's a legal defense, not a diagnosis."

* * *

/0637

"Kelly, she was a psychiatrist from Cerberus, she claimed it was possibly untreated schizophrenia. But Shepard has never been officially diagnosed. _Officially_. Who's really to say? She does a damn good job. She's just a little…off sometimes. Jane's been through a lot of things."

* * *

/1548

"We spend twenty minutes in a bathroom on the Citadel. Just standing there while she looked at a stall. It's more like…how can I explain it? Not inanimate, exactly. Stuck. Waiting, but more than that. Shut down, but temporarily. This was before Cerberus did anything to her, too. They can't be blamed for that.

"Like she's booting up. Uploading something. Maybe that's why Legion liked her so much."

* * *

/0319

"The hovering, yes. The running back and forth while you try to have a conversation with someone. It's not exactly eavesdropping. That's too subtle a word for this."

* * *

/0320

"We've decided to find it charming."

* * *

/0804

"I think this interview is over. Ask Shepard. See her reaction. Then you'll understand. She will answer you. It just might take a while to get that answer."


End file.
